A Big Brother's Promise
by KB-RC23
Summary: Braden Series Companion. "The bedroom door creaked open, and a small shadow slipped through..." Nine-month old Emma gets a late night visitor. Rated K. *Updated 07/12/14* One-shot.


**Here's a short but sweet one-shot. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: ****_Castle_**** is not mine :/**

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><p><strong>[A Big Brother's Promise]<strong>

_September 5th, 2021._

The bedroom door creaked open, and a small shadow slipped through. It was quite dark, the blue haze from the moon being the only source of light, which illuminated the large bed and its two occupants. With a careful step here and a careful step there, the boy made it to his intended destination.

He reached the bed and the light snores coming from his parents told him that they were still fast asleep, neither aware of their little midnight visitor. Double checking that they were in fact asleep and that he hadn't woken them up, Braden slipped back through the door and headed up the stairs.

He then went not to his bedroom, but the room next door.

He peeked his head into the dark room, a nightlight on the far wall basking the room in a white light, and tiptoed over to the crib, before peering down inside. The boy smiled and whispered, "Hi, Emma. It's me, your big brother, Braden."

The nine month-old let out a yawn, her eyes focusing on her big brother currently grinning at her. When Emma saw Braden, she seemed to light up with excitement and began to giggle.

"Shh, Emma. We gotta be quiet," Braden said, finger at his mouth. Little did the six-year-old know was that the baby monitor just to the left of the crib was on and its signal was being sent to the master bedroom downstairs.

Kate had heard something, and from always waking up from the slightest of sounds due to being a mom with a newborn, she'd immediately woken up. She was about to get up to check, when she heard her son talking. That halted her movements.

The baby monitor. He was in Emma's room.

She then began to listen.

"I've never had a baby sister before, so I am new to this. My friend, Johnny, has a brother but that's not the same... He's a boy and you're a girl."

Kate tried her best not to chuckle, suppressing the urge by biting her bottom lip. Carefully, she reached behind her to wake Rick up. It took some time before she was able to rouse him from his deep sleep. And when he did wake up, she felt him get ready to say something but stopped him.

"Rick, listen. Brae is in Emma's room, he's talking to her."

He gave his wife a confused look, surprised to hear their son on the baby monitor. His expression said it all and Kate merely lifted a finger to her lips before she motioned to her ear, silently telling him to listen. Doing as he was told, Rick gently raised his head and listened as carefully as he could, but the static made it a bit difficult to hear.

"When you get bigger, you and me can play with all my toys. I have a lot, like almost a million."

Rick and Kate had nothing but huge grins on their faces as they listened to the sweet words their son said to their daughter.

"I just want to tell you that I promise to always be there for you. I know Johnny says he fights with his brother sometimes. I don't think me and you will fight, though."

Rick and Kate heard silence over the monitor, unsure if Braden was still there or if he had gone back to bed.

But then there was some muffled movements and they could hear Braden say, "I'm gonna go to sleep. G'night, Emma. Love you," before, about a minute later, there was the distinct sound of the bedroom door being closed.

Kate turned around so that she now faced Rick. Being able to witness their son say those things to his sister tugged at her heartstrings like no other, and it seemed like Rick felt that same tug. Their son's words echoed in their heads. And it was in that moment Rick and Kate knew Braden was going to be an incredible big brother.

Heck, he already was. That much was obvious from what just happened moments ago.

"He's quite the kid, huh?" Rick mumbled, pulling Kate into his chest before he placed a kiss on the crown of her head.

Nodding, Kate burrowed into him as she circled her arms around his waist. "He sure is."

"Gets that from me, of course."

That got Kate to pull her head back, an eyebrow raised in question. "Oh, is that so?" She tried her best to bite back a grin, but couldn't. Closing the distance, she softly kissed him and whispered, "You're something else. You know that?"

Rick pouted, "Still love me, though, right?"

"Always." She pressed her lips to his once more. "Let's go to sleep, babe."

With their arms wrapped around each other, the couple slowly drifted off to sleep, both filled with pride and love for their two kids and each other.

Yep, life couldn't get much better than this.

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><p><strong>There you go, folks!<strong>

**Reviews are love. Until next time!**

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